Practical writing on backend engineering, databases, system design, networking, and production reliability.
25 articles across 4 topics.
Showing the 24 most recent of 25 articles
Database
18 min read
Learn how PostgreSQL connection pooling works, why increasing pool size can hurt performance, how to size pools across multiple application instances, and when to use PgBouncer.
Database
19 min read
Learn how PostgreSQL indexes work, why B-tree indexes make queries faster, how composite and partial indexes work, and how to verify whether an index actually improves your query.
Backend
28 min read
Learn how to control producer-consumer imbalance in Node.js using stream backpressure, bounded concurrency, queue limits, admission control, retries, and load shedding.
System Design
34 min read
Learn how to design caching with Redis using cache-aside, write-through, write-behind, invalidation, TTLs, stampede protection, hot-key handling, and production failure strategies.
System Design
27 min read
Learn how strong consistency, eventual consistency, read-your-writes, monotonic reads, and causal consistency affect real APIs, replicas, caches, and user experience.
Backend
30 min read
Learn how offset and cursor pagination work, why deep offsets become slow, how keyset pagination solves that problem, and how to design stable pagination with PostgreSQL and TypeScript.
Backend
27 min read
Learn how to evolve REST APIs safely using backward compatibility, API versions, expand-and-contract migrations, deprecation policies, and compatibility testing.
Backend
25 min read
Learn Clean Architecture in Node.js and TypeScript with domain models, use cases, ports, adapters, repositories, controllers, dependency injection, and practical trade-offs.
Database
18 min read
Learn to read PostgreSQL execution plans, row estimates, scans, joins, sorts, buffers, and loops so you can diagnose slow production queries with evidence.
Backend
30 min read
Learn how to design predictable REST APIs with validation, authorization, idempotency, pagination, caching, concurrency control, rate limiting, observability, and safe evolution.
Backend
33 min read
Learn how rate limiting works with fixed windows, sliding windows, token buckets, leaky buckets, Redis, concurrency limits, and distributed systems.
Backend
22 min read
Learn SOLID principles in TypeScript by refactoring a checkout service into smaller, testable, and easier-to-change components.
System Design
8 min read
A practical guide to the CPU, Node.js event loop, database pools, Redis, queues, and backpressure failures that appear when an API grows from 100 to 10,000 RPS.
Backend
7 min read
How to design retry-safe background jobs with idempotency keys, deduplication, checkpoints, transactional outboxes, leases, and compensation for partial failure.
Database
7 min read
How concurrent updates cause lost data, what PostgreSQL MVCC does and does not prevent, and when to use atomic writes, optimistic locking, or row locks.
Backend
7 min read
A production design for single-device JWT logout using short-lived access tokens, rotating refresh tokens, session records, JTI revocation, and Redis.
Backend
7 min read
What Kafka at-least-once delivery means when a consumer crashes before committing, and how offsets, idempotency, deduplication, and transactions prevent duplicate effects.
Database
7 min read
Why a query that is fast on test data becomes slow in production, with practical PostgreSQL checks for plans, indexes, statistics, locks, concurrency, and cache effects.
Database
7 min read
Why replication lag causes stale reads after writes, and how primary routing, consistency windows, session stickiness, version checks, and LSN-based techniques restore read-after-write behavior.
Backend
8 min read
Why a fast Redis cache can still overload PostgreSQL, and how to diagnose cache misses, stampedes, hot keys, TTLs, invalidation, and cache-aside failures.
System Design
7 min read
How immediate retries create retry storms and cascading failures, and how to use timeouts, exponential backoff, jitter, retry budgets, and circuit breakers safely.
Database
17 min read
A practical production debugging guide for investigating sudden database CPU spikes, finding expensive queries, reading execution plans, checking indexes, connections, traffic, and recent changes.
System Design
21 min read
Should you start with microservices when building a system expected to scale from 10K to 10M users? Learn why a modular monolith is often the better starting point and when microservices actually make sense.
Backend
14 min read
Learn how Node.js streams process large files and network data with Readable, Writable, Duplex, Transform, pipeline, async iteration, and object mode.
Architecture and scalability guides covering distributed systems, caching, queues, data design, and the trade-offs behind reliable software.
Production database debugging, query performance, indexing, capacity, and practical operational guidance.
Practical guides to Node.js, API design, performance, databases, caching, reliability, and building production backend systems.
Practical articles and engineering notes about Networking.